Organisations

National and regional

There are a number of organisations that provide tools and strategies to people who defend human rights so they can protect themselves – whether individuals, organisations, networks, or communities. These include organisations with national and regional coverage, such as

In addition, the website of Equipo Nizkor has a list of Latin American human rights organisations by country, many of which will provide security and protecion guidance, as well as other support, to HRDs.

PBI has developed a training platform that combines on-line courses with face-to-face workshops. The trainings deal with various aspects of the concept of integral protection with a gender perspective. See course leaflet and website (only in Spanish), which provides details of the first set of courses of the platform, which took place in Mexico in 2015. The description of the course contents provides an example of the training that PBI can provide. The training platform will be adapted in the future to local contexts and the specific needs of students in different countries of the world. If you are interested, contact us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The publication 'Empoderadas' ('Empowered'), which contains a report of the course on integral protection provided in this initial training, gathers together the voices and testimonies of the students and other Mexican WHRDs, and includes recommendations on integral protection drawn up by them and presented to the diplomatic corps in Mexico.

Protection Manuals

Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights and Kvinna Till Kvinna has produced Integrated Security: A Manual (by Jane Barry, 2011) which has translated the research for Insiste, Persiste, Resiste, Existe (see under 'Other publications' below) into practical tools to support women human rights defenders in developing and deepening strategies to stay safe and well.

Front Line Defenders and Protection International also provide manuals giving practical guidance to HRDs on how they can improve their security, and thus protect themselves.

Other publications

The website of AWID (Association for Women's Rights in Development) haslinks to a range of publications on the security of WHRDs, many in collaboration with the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC).To access them, on the publications page, under 'Our publications' click on 'Filter'. Under 'Priority areas', tick 'Women Human Rights Defenders' and then click on 'Filter'.

State protection programmes

States have an obligation to protect human rights defenders. A possible first point of contact if you wish to request security measures from the state is the national human rights institution for your country.

Countries in Latin America with formal state protection programmes for HRDs are:

These programmes have advantages and disadvantages and HRDs have varied experiences of them. You may therefore wish to consult a non-state human rights organisation before you apply for protection measures under such a programme.

Digital Security

While human rights defenders are increasingly using computers and the internet in their work, this electronic information is also increasingly the target of monitoring and surveillance. There are a number of tools available to improve digital security and thus help protect not only HRDs but also the people they communicate with.

Front Line Defenders provides a range of materials on the digital security part of its webpage. Those in both English and Spanish are below:

Digital Security First-Aid Kit for Human Rights Defenders produced by APC contains short guides for HRDs who find themselves in emergencies related to communication and digital security. The kit suggests concrete steps, as well as providing further resources and references to support groups to whom activists can turn for further assistance.

Rise Upprovides online communication tools for people and groups working towards social change. It particularly focuses on providing the resources and tools for safer communication. It has a lot of information to help improve digital security, including links to security guides.

¡Pongámonos las Pilas!(Let's get our act together!) aims to provide the basis for an information security policy for organisations, particularly in relation to digital security.

Me and my shadowby Tactical Technology Collective outlines many of the ways in which we leave traces of our personal information online. Includes tips and information about staying safe in the digital world, as well as links to online resources.

Electronic Frontier Foundationprovides detailed info on dealing with Denial of service (DoS) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which aim at preventing a website from functioning properly.

Funding

A number of organisations provide grants for individual HRDs or organisations to improve their security and protection - see 'Emergency and Security Grants'.

International Accompaniment

There are a number of organisations which offer international accompaniment of human rights defenders in Latin America, to deter politically motivated violence in areas of civil conflict and repression. International volunteers from these organisations may accompany communities or individual defenders who are at risk, as they go about their work, both in cities and rural areas. As well as deterring potential attackers, accompaniment organisations provide moral support and international solidarity to defenders and communities. They operate primarily in Mesoamerica and Colombia. The way in which they operate and the type of accompaniment they offer can vary – see their websites for more information.

Here is a list of some of the accompaniment organisations active in Latin America:

ACOGUATE (in Spanish) – provides accompaniment in Guatemala. It is composed of a number of organisations, some of which also provide accompaniment in other Latin American countries. If so, they are mentioned separately below.